Currently, glass panes applied to automobiles have increased thickness, for example, have a thickness of five to six millimeters.
In a conventional apparatus for breaking plate glass, plate glass on which a cutting line is formed is placed on a template by a belt, and pressed to be broken forcibly by an end cutter or pressing device. However, when the plate glass is thick as described above, a sufficient crack is not developed or does not advance although the cutting line is provided on the glass by means of stronger cutter pressure. In the forcible breaking by the above conventional breaking apparatus, the glass may not be accurately broken along the cutting line, but may be chipped, or sometimes cracked. In such case, these deficiencies cannot be cured even if the polishing work or other works are performed in the following processes.
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for breaking plate glass which makes cracks in the glass and then breaks the glass, even if the glass in which a crack is not sufficiently developed is supplied to the apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for breaking glass plate which eliminates the use of a template required by conventional apparatus for breaking glass.